Bonjour again. Last Wednesday, my political science class, which is a policy seminar on contemporary Europe set out for out trip to Luxembourg and Brussels. We once again boarded our purple, butterfly bus and let Strasbourg around 4pm. Aboard was the class plus our professor, Professor Tioborn, a Swedish man who works for the Council of Europe and always seems so enthused to come in and teach our class twice a week. We arrived at Luxembourg, Luxembourg (yes, the name of the city is the same) around 7:30 at this humongous hostel down at the bottom of this large hill. We ate dinner there, not too great, and then went out to explore the little city. Yes, it was little.
Thursday morning, we woke up bright and early to visit the European Court of Justice, one of the institutions of the European Union. I'm pretty sure most people don't know much about this little country, but it does hold one of the most important European institutions. The court was this extremely futuristic modern building inside, but very nice. We were briefed a bit about the court's function and then had the chance to sit in on a hearing of an actual court case. We sat there with our headphones where you can listen to the hearing translated in 27 languages! (For all of the member states) I enjoyed flipping through, although 6 languages were present there that day. Being apart of the process sitting there was pretty exciting, however, the case itself, was not the most thrilling I'd say. Lets just say I now know all you would want to know about what constitutes a "denial of boarding" when your flight gets changed. And apparently since this situation involved two countries, something as small as someone suing for 500 euros for the inconvenience of her changed trip, became something the European court deals with. They had said earlier the cases can get a bit boring (note taken). So the funny thing is they have this women sitting there whose entire job is to watch and make sure no one falls asleep! They said she will literally come over and tap you awake. Haha, sadly I did not get to see her in action, but my professor was definitely getting some shut eye threw some parts. Close call Tioborn.
We left the courtroom and my professor turns to us, "Wow, so interesting, just riveting, wasn't it?" It just sounds so great in his Swedish accent I promise.
We then ventured into the town of Luxembourg for some free time and lunch. The town was very cute, with a lot of fancy shops. We stopped at this hot chocolate shop we heard about where they give you a mug of hot milk and then you choose the flavor of hot chocolate, which is a big hunk of the chocolate on a wooden spoon which you then put in and dip. My dream! I had the hazelnut chocolate, so good. The funny thing was right across the street was the Duke's palace where we saw the changing of the guard, so while we were sipping our hot cocoa, these security guards and police guards, who were black leather and orange pants come in for a drink. Hot chocolate break?
We explored the town a bit more seeing a church, but I'm pretty sure that was the extent of the city. Its a SMALL place. The city is built on this huge ravine though, which is pretty cool. That is why the city wasn't attacked during the war because it served as a huge fortress type setup. Apparently you can go down to the bottom of the ravine and check it out.
We left at 4pm to continue our political journey on to Brussels!
mercredi 21 octobre 2009
lundi 12 octobre 2009
Is a vassal like a quarry?
Today in my French history, my professor was talking about the Franco-Prussian War (all in French), and used the word vassal. He then tried to explain the definition of the word in French, but he was having a lot of difficulty giving the meaning. But he didn't have to because someone in the class spoke up and said, its the same word in English. Everyone nodded in agreement to him. I said to the person next to me, I've never heard that word in my life. The whole class turns around and stares. Ok, didn't mean to say it that loud. Someone responded, you can just look it up in the English dictionary. I just respond to the class, oh right, I know it, just kidding...
So, I am just wondering, is vassal one of those words like quarry? (Connection back to the concentration camp we visited earlier on in the trip, where the prisoners worked on a quarry, and I had never heard of it.) I am convinced that at some point in my life I missed out on all of these lessons of words that everyone else knows. For some reason, I missed the quarry lesson, the vassal lesson, what else is there? I know that there will be some other word that comes along while in France where I will be the only one who doesn't know. I feel like this would just happen to me. Even in France.
For those of you who want to know: A vassal is "a person granted the use of land, in return for rendering homage, fealty, and usually military service or its equivalent to a lord or other superior; feudal tenant."
Cite: dictionary.com
So, I am just wondering, is vassal one of those words like quarry? (Connection back to the concentration camp we visited earlier on in the trip, where the prisoners worked on a quarry, and I had never heard of it.) I am convinced that at some point in my life I missed out on all of these lessons of words that everyone else knows. For some reason, I missed the quarry lesson, the vassal lesson, what else is there? I know that there will be some other word that comes along while in France where I will be the only one who doesn't know. I feel like this would just happen to me. Even in France.
For those of you who want to know: A vassal is "a person granted the use of land, in return for rendering homage, fealty, and usually military service or its equivalent to a lord or other superior; feudal tenant."
Cite: dictionary.com
samedi 10 octobre 2009
A bike, French family, a town called Bitche and a nutty professor
So right now, I should be reading a French short story for tomorrow, however, my brain really cannot focus right now after writing my first paper all day.
On Thursday, I decided to rent a bike. It took me a month to finally decide to get one. I haven't had a bike since I was eight years old, and that didn't have handbrakes. This should be interesting. Slightly worried about hitting a person, a car, a building or nothing? I was riding on this little sidewalk and it was somewhat slanted, and I was worried at what point would my bike start tipping to the side. Is that a stupid question? I tend to think about things like this. Then today, I stopped and all of a sudden another bike came whizzing up behind me. How am I supposed to know if there is someone behind me! I would probably feel more comfortable with at least the helmet. But of course the French are too cool for that, except for the one person I see every 17 days who wears one. Then there could be me, the girl with the helmet and who stops short at curved sidewalks.
Anyway. Thursday night I was invited to my cousin's apartment in Strasbourg for dinner. Yes, apparently I have all this family in France. But, no, I am not French. Strange how family is. It went pretty well and they were very friendly. Parts of the time, I just sat there because they started talking about things I knew nothing about or I couldn't understand. Oh well, they still said I spoke pretty good French. Haha I'm sure.
Yesterday, Saturday, my French history class went on a trip to Bitche. Pronounced like so. The awkward name town sits about a hour north of Strasbourg in Lorraine (the other area with Strasbourg that was passed between Germany and France). When my host family had me asked me at dinner last weekend where I was going to dinner this weekend, I answered "Beeache." Trying to make it sound a different then it was spelled. My host sister and brother both just looked at me first, then I repeated it. And they said "Oui, c'est Bitche." Then the brother goes, oui, comme "you fuckin bitch." hahahah I almost fell off the chair.
So what is in Bitche you might ask? Well, not that much. We went there to visit the Citadel a Bitche, a large stone fortress used during the Franco-Prussian War that was used by the French for protection while they were under attack. It was huge, and really cool actually. There were really nice views over the side and then we took a tour with these huge headphones. It took us from room to room with a movie they made reenacting what life was like inside the citadel during the war, which was very rough and the French lost, obviously. After a hour and half, we left to lunch. I just must comment that Syracuse does not go cheap with these meals for trips. We must have had about a 3 hour lunch. It was so funny. But we all loved it, just sat and ate after our insignificant 4 hours of sleep the night before.
Then we headed out to stop at the battlefield where the war took place. So the bus pulled up to a large green field with apple trees. Three monuments stood built, some with German writing, because after the war, the area was given to the newly formed Germany. But the funny thing was basically, we stood, stared at the monument and then walked a bit, picked some apples, and then found some horses and began feeding them. Here we are French history kids, standing on the battle field fielding nice horses apples. It was great. So funny.
Our last stop was a teeny museum dedicated to the war located in a small town nearby. We watched a 10 minute movie that used pictures of their little figurines in the museum as images in the film. Hahaha.
Meanwhile, our professor, Monsieur Grille, is just such a funny man. He is just saying the most random funny things. He would just whip out this large camera and snap a pictures of the group at the citadel, at lunch. At one point he stared telling us jokes about what the difference is between French and Portuguese women, or the story last year about when the group left him behind at the museum when he was locked in the bathroom. Or in the middle of the film at the museum, he was standing behind, and made some loud large noise, and I screamed and seriously flew across the room. NOT embarrassing AT ALL. He laughed, and so did the class. Oh boy. Normal occurrence.
Exhausted from the day in Bitche, I stayed home last night, while my host mother had this big dinner party going on. I fell asleep at 12ish and I still heard dishes clinking. She parties harder than me, it's fine.
I'd say it was really good week. I'm finally feeling pretty good about things. I just hope it keeps up.
On Thursday, I decided to rent a bike. It took me a month to finally decide to get one. I haven't had a bike since I was eight years old, and that didn't have handbrakes. This should be interesting. Slightly worried about hitting a person, a car, a building or nothing? I was riding on this little sidewalk and it was somewhat slanted, and I was worried at what point would my bike start tipping to the side. Is that a stupid question? I tend to think about things like this. Then today, I stopped and all of a sudden another bike came whizzing up behind me. How am I supposed to know if there is someone behind me! I would probably feel more comfortable with at least the helmet. But of course the French are too cool for that, except for the one person I see every 17 days who wears one. Then there could be me, the girl with the helmet and who stops short at curved sidewalks.
Anyway. Thursday night I was invited to my cousin's apartment in Strasbourg for dinner. Yes, apparently I have all this family in France. But, no, I am not French. Strange how family is. It went pretty well and they were very friendly. Parts of the time, I just sat there because they started talking about things I knew nothing about or I couldn't understand. Oh well, they still said I spoke pretty good French. Haha I'm sure.
Yesterday, Saturday, my French history class went on a trip to Bitche. Pronounced like so. The awkward name town sits about a hour north of Strasbourg in Lorraine (the other area with Strasbourg that was passed between Germany and France). When my host family had me asked me at dinner last weekend where I was going to dinner this weekend, I answered "Beeache." Trying to make it sound a different then it was spelled. My host sister and brother both just looked at me first, then I repeated it. And they said "Oui, c'est Bitche." Then the brother goes, oui, comme "you fuckin bitch." hahahah I almost fell off the chair.
So what is in Bitche you might ask? Well, not that much. We went there to visit the Citadel a Bitche, a large stone fortress used during the Franco-Prussian War that was used by the French for protection while they were under attack. It was huge, and really cool actually. There were really nice views over the side and then we took a tour with these huge headphones. It took us from room to room with a movie they made reenacting what life was like inside the citadel during the war, which was very rough and the French lost, obviously. After a hour and half, we left to lunch. I just must comment that Syracuse does not go cheap with these meals for trips. We must have had about a 3 hour lunch. It was so funny. But we all loved it, just sat and ate after our insignificant 4 hours of sleep the night before.
Then we headed out to stop at the battlefield where the war took place. So the bus pulled up to a large green field with apple trees. Three monuments stood built, some with German writing, because after the war, the area was given to the newly formed Germany. But the funny thing was basically, we stood, stared at the monument and then walked a bit, picked some apples, and then found some horses and began feeding them. Here we are French history kids, standing on the battle field fielding nice horses apples. It was great. So funny.
Our last stop was a teeny museum dedicated to the war located in a small town nearby. We watched a 10 minute movie that used pictures of their little figurines in the museum as images in the film. Hahaha.
Meanwhile, our professor, Monsieur Grille, is just such a funny man. He is just saying the most random funny things. He would just whip out this large camera and snap a pictures of the group at the citadel, at lunch. At one point he stared telling us jokes about what the difference is between French and Portuguese women, or the story last year about when the group left him behind at the museum when he was locked in the bathroom. Or in the middle of the film at the museum, he was standing behind, and made some loud large noise, and I screamed and seriously flew across the room. NOT embarrassing AT ALL. He laughed, and so did the class. Oh boy. Normal occurrence.
Exhausted from the day in Bitche, I stayed home last night, while my host mother had this big dinner party going on. I fell asleep at 12ish and I still heard dishes clinking. She parties harder than me, it's fine.
I'd say it was really good week. I'm finally feeling pretty good about things. I just hope it keeps up.
mercredi 7 octobre 2009
October 2nd-4th: Weekend in Bourgogne
Another one of the program's planned trips was this weekend's trip to Bourgogne, aka Burgundy. It is a region of France located southwest of Strasbourg. We departed on our large, purple, butterfly covered bus early Friday morning and arrived at our first stop, Dijon, the capital of Burgundy, around 1:30PM. In Dijon, Professor Bach took us on a great walking tour of the city. Walking and observing the beautiful architecture around us. We visited the Museum of Fine Arts which holds "impressive" Tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy. They were definitely impressive. Then we stopped in at many courtyards and buildings observing the interesting designs of the buildings. There was this courtyard with this amazing staircase up the side and other with an interesting, extremely old tower. It's pretty hard to describe without being there. He also took us to the front of this church, where when you look up, you just see rows and rows of gargoyles towering over you. It was awesome.
Then with some time on our own, we walked more around the streets, visiting the famous mustard store, because of course "Dijon Mustard." This is the city where it all comes from! Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan. The region is also known of course for its wine, le pain d'espice (ginger bread), beouf bourgignon, escargots, kir and more. So that evening for dinner we went to a very French restaurant. My first course was a little surprise when there turned out to be liver sitting on top of my salad, GROSS. But the main dish of fish, was definitely much better.
The next morning, the bus departed for Beaune, the capital of the Burgundian wine industry. Along the way we took La Route des Grands Crus (the Route of the Great Vintages), an extremely picturesque route and stopped along the way in Fixin, to take a walk in the vineyards. Once in Beaune, our first stop was at the Hotel-Dieu, a UNESCO World Heritage Monument, that acted as the Hospices in Beaune. It was somewhat like a hospital built for the poor to take care of them while they were sick and dying. The building is from 1443, and my professor had told us, it has "the most amazing roof you have ever seen." He was right. The roof like many roofes in Beaune are made out of these colorful tiles, somewhat like mosaics. It was awesome. The hospital was very interesting and ended with a spectacular painting of the "Last Judgement."
We had free time around lunch time and the whole group ended up exploring a large outdoor market that was going on that day. It was bustling and filled with fresh fruit, cheese, bread and random chicken. It was a beautiful day weather wise, so we found some church steps to sit on and enjoyed our delicious picnic lunch outside in Beaune.
We then met up at the Caves Patriarches for a wine tasting! These caves are the largest in Burgundy and stretch 5 kilometers! Apparently, you need a year in advance reservation to get a tour there! Whoaa. We entered these dark long cellars covered in rows and rows of wine. The wine tasting was all explained in French, which was good but a little confusing and then we tried 5 wines. They were pretty good, although I'm still trying to develop my wine taste while being abroad and I'd say I still need work. We were able to keep our little wine taster dishes as souvenirs!
We left Beaune for where we were staying for the night. Our professor had told us its not a hotel and there's nothing around. What did that mean? We arrive to little, no, teeny village two hours away from Beaune. There was nothing there except for donkeys, chickens and cows. We were staying at this sort of boarding house type of place where the bedrooms slept 6-8 people and downstairs was the kitchen. Upon arrival, we took a little walk around, (which is where we encountered the donkey, I was very excited about this), and then a game of kickball was started. There was also a random circus tent, which was apparently in use a circus training center. Wow. Who would have thought. I couldn't imagine living in a village like this. I think its just that I compare everything to New York. But can you imagine your neighbor being a donkey? I mean, the conversation would be a little stale.
So the plan for dinner that night was the region's famous beef bourgignon (but I requested the vegetarian option instead). However, it was definitely more. We started with carrots, then the beef/tomatoes for vegetarians, with macaroni, with bread, then the salad course, then the cheese course and then dessert. Oh my god. And a kiel to drink! (Black currant mixed with white wine). It was all delicious.
The student provided entertainment came next, since the there was nothing else to do at night. People came prepared. Guitar players, singers, fiddlers, Scottish dancers, comedians, story tellers. And Professor Bach and Professer Marxer and Pierre (the bus driver) teaching us French drinking songs, which led into them teaching us rounds. Overall, it was so much fun. Everything was so funny and so good, it was a great time. Besides the fact I felt pretty talentless by the end, it was great.
We woke up to part for the village of Vezelay, where one of France's most beautiful churches sits up on a hill. We took a hike up the hill, taking the actual pilgrimage route from the 15th century. It was beautiful, with landscapes of Burgundy all around us and pure greenery. We stopped half way up where Professor Bach taught us a great round. I just thought it was such a funny moment, 33 college students standing on a hill in Burgundy countryside singing a round. It was funny. We continued on to the top where we then took a tour at the La Maison du Visiteur. I took the French tour, which was a little intense and she described the make, architecture, history and purpose of the church. Then we walked up to the Basilica and also visited the crypt underneath. As a group we ate our picnic lunch at the park nearby looking over Burgundy.
It was a great, great trip. It was so picturesque and peaceful!
Then with some time on our own, we walked more around the streets, visiting the famous mustard store, because of course "Dijon Mustard." This is the city where it all comes from! Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan. The region is also known of course for its wine, le pain d'espice (ginger bread), beouf bourgignon, escargots, kir and more. So that evening for dinner we went to a very French restaurant. My first course was a little surprise when there turned out to be liver sitting on top of my salad, GROSS. But the main dish of fish, was definitely much better.
The next morning, the bus departed for Beaune, the capital of the Burgundian wine industry. Along the way we took La Route des Grands Crus (the Route of the Great Vintages), an extremely picturesque route and stopped along the way in Fixin, to take a walk in the vineyards. Once in Beaune, our first stop was at the Hotel-Dieu, a UNESCO World Heritage Monument, that acted as the Hospices in Beaune. It was somewhat like a hospital built for the poor to take care of them while they were sick and dying. The building is from 1443, and my professor had told us, it has "the most amazing roof you have ever seen." He was right. The roof like many roofes in Beaune are made out of these colorful tiles, somewhat like mosaics. It was awesome. The hospital was very interesting and ended with a spectacular painting of the "Last Judgement."
We had free time around lunch time and the whole group ended up exploring a large outdoor market that was going on that day. It was bustling and filled with fresh fruit, cheese, bread and random chicken. It was a beautiful day weather wise, so we found some church steps to sit on and enjoyed our delicious picnic lunch outside in Beaune.
We then met up at the Caves Patriarches for a wine tasting! These caves are the largest in Burgundy and stretch 5 kilometers! Apparently, you need a year in advance reservation to get a tour there! Whoaa. We entered these dark long cellars covered in rows and rows of wine. The wine tasting was all explained in French, which was good but a little confusing and then we tried 5 wines. They were pretty good, although I'm still trying to develop my wine taste while being abroad and I'd say I still need work. We were able to keep our little wine taster dishes as souvenirs!
We left Beaune for where we were staying for the night. Our professor had told us its not a hotel and there's nothing around. What did that mean? We arrive to little, no, teeny village two hours away from Beaune. There was nothing there except for donkeys, chickens and cows. We were staying at this sort of boarding house type of place where the bedrooms slept 6-8 people and downstairs was the kitchen. Upon arrival, we took a little walk around, (which is where we encountered the donkey, I was very excited about this), and then a game of kickball was started. There was also a random circus tent, which was apparently in use a circus training center. Wow. Who would have thought. I couldn't imagine living in a village like this. I think its just that I compare everything to New York. But can you imagine your neighbor being a donkey? I mean, the conversation would be a little stale.
So the plan for dinner that night was the region's famous beef bourgignon (but I requested the vegetarian option instead). However, it was definitely more. We started with carrots, then the beef/tomatoes for vegetarians, with macaroni, with bread, then the salad course, then the cheese course and then dessert. Oh my god. And a kiel to drink! (Black currant mixed with white wine). It was all delicious.
The student provided entertainment came next, since the there was nothing else to do at night. People came prepared. Guitar players, singers, fiddlers, Scottish dancers, comedians, story tellers. And Professor Bach and Professer Marxer and Pierre (the bus driver) teaching us French drinking songs, which led into them teaching us rounds. Overall, it was so much fun. Everything was so funny and so good, it was a great time. Besides the fact I felt pretty talentless by the end, it was great.
We woke up to part for the village of Vezelay, where one of France's most beautiful churches sits up on a hill. We took a hike up the hill, taking the actual pilgrimage route from the 15th century. It was beautiful, with landscapes of Burgundy all around us and pure greenery. We stopped half way up where Professor Bach taught us a great round. I just thought it was such a funny moment, 33 college students standing on a hill in Burgundy countryside singing a round. It was funny. We continued on to the top where we then took a tour at the La Maison du Visiteur. I took the French tour, which was a little intense and she described the make, architecture, history and purpose of the church. Then we walked up to the Basilica and also visited the crypt underneath. As a group we ate our picnic lunch at the park nearby looking over Burgundy.
It was a great, great trip. It was so picturesque and peaceful!
mardi 6 octobre 2009
Life in Strasbourg!!
I feel like I should just make some comments on living abroad, in France, with a family I just met. It seems like such a weird concept to ship yourself across the ocean, to a country you've possibly never been before or don't know the language. Although I have been to France, but never Strasbourg, and do speak a good amount of French, the transition is still something that I am getting used to. Here I am introducing myself to a nice older woman who is letting me live in her house, cook me dinner 5 days a week and breakfast 7 days a week, allow me to do the laundry in her apartment and provide a room all for myself. Weird? Yes. But pretty great, I must say so.
Everytime I see Madame, we have a small conversation: "Bonjour Joanna, ca va?" "Ca va merci, et vous?" I have gotten a lot more used to dinners with Madame, John (my American roommate) and sometimes one of her children. We speak French the whole time, which I love and is really the whole point of living with a family. Most of the time, I can get by pretty well in all the conversations. Yay! If not, Madame can totally tell. She looks at me with this kind of smirk. Great. But, now I think I've gotten more comfortable and I'll ask questions to clarify any confusion I have.
A large concern of mine coming into this situation was the food. I have to eat what Madame cooks that night for dinner and that's it. So, I would say I'm a pretty picky eater. I did write on the housing form that I don't eat red meat, however, that has not been a problem, considering it doesn't look like they eat that much anyway. A common food I do see is ham. I mean, I didn't list out every food I dislike on this form, and unfortunately, ham is one of them. Ham just seems to creep its way into many dishes she makes, so I slyly try to push it off to the side without Madame realizing. Who am I kidding? She probably knows.
We also eat very random vegetables. There's this pale, cabbage like, extremely bitter vegetable that reappears every so often. I don't know what it is, but it is not the tastiest. I would definitely say that I've had my fair share of cheese since I've been here, it is somehow incorporated to each dish we eat, or the cheese course takes its place. Yum.
I just realized a few days ago that the building has an elevator, which goes right into the apartment, but she doesn't use it. Slow moment. There's also whole section of the apartment that I haven't seen. It's past the kitchen, and that is the farthest I go. Sometimes there is even a curtain pulled across. Hmm interesting. I often wonder where her children are? Or possibly they are just hidden somewhere in the remainder of the apartment? I really couldn't tell you for sure.
How about the laundry? Apparently they don't really believe in dryers in France, except for sheets. I think when I tried to ask her what I should do with my sheet when I wanted to wash it, it took awhile for me to even figure out what I was trying to ask. Then I turned her pink towel into one covered with blue spots. Rough.
Oh France...
Everytime I see Madame, we have a small conversation: "Bonjour Joanna, ca va?" "Ca va merci, et vous?" I have gotten a lot more used to dinners with Madame, John (my American roommate) and sometimes one of her children. We speak French the whole time, which I love and is really the whole point of living with a family. Most of the time, I can get by pretty well in all the conversations. Yay! If not, Madame can totally tell. She looks at me with this kind of smirk. Great. But, now I think I've gotten more comfortable and I'll ask questions to clarify any confusion I have.
A large concern of mine coming into this situation was the food. I have to eat what Madame cooks that night for dinner and that's it. So, I would say I'm a pretty picky eater. I did write on the housing form that I don't eat red meat, however, that has not been a problem, considering it doesn't look like they eat that much anyway. A common food I do see is ham. I mean, I didn't list out every food I dislike on this form, and unfortunately, ham is one of them. Ham just seems to creep its way into many dishes she makes, so I slyly try to push it off to the side without Madame realizing. Who am I kidding? She probably knows.
We also eat very random vegetables. There's this pale, cabbage like, extremely bitter vegetable that reappears every so often. I don't know what it is, but it is not the tastiest. I would definitely say that I've had my fair share of cheese since I've been here, it is somehow incorporated to each dish we eat, or the cheese course takes its place. Yum.
I just realized a few days ago that the building has an elevator, which goes right into the apartment, but she doesn't use it. Slow moment. There's also whole section of the apartment that I haven't seen. It's past the kitchen, and that is the farthest I go. Sometimes there is even a curtain pulled across. Hmm interesting. I often wonder where her children are? Or possibly they are just hidden somewhere in the remainder of the apartment? I really couldn't tell you for sure.
How about the laundry? Apparently they don't really believe in dryers in France, except for sheets. I think when I tried to ask her what I should do with my sheet when I wanted to wash it, it took awhile for me to even figure out what I was trying to ask. Then I turned her pink towel into one covered with blue spots. Rough.
Oh France...
lundi 5 octobre 2009
September 22-25th: PARIS!
I love Paris. I just love it. This is where I wanted to study abroad originally. But, no, no bitterness. I left Thursday afternoon by high speed train alone to see my uncle. We of course went to his favorite cafe, Le Select, that evening after stopping by his university's party. Paris is just unbelievable always, I think it's because it reminds me of New York. It is busy at all times, the restaurants are packed (in this case, its usually cafes), and the streets are bustling. Even better, they speak French.
Friday, I met up with my friends from Syracuse who are studying abroad in London for the semester. Ah, it was exciting! Megan, Kaitlin and others and I took a 4 hour walking tour for free! It was great, and it covered so many great attractions of Paris. We saw Notre Dame, Pont Neuf, Saint-Michel, the Latin Quarter, Academie Francaise and more. At night, we headed to the Louvre after 6PM, when it's free. I've been to Paris twice before, but had never been inside it. We stopped at the Mona Lisa (slightly anticlimactic), saw the inverted pyramid and explored some more. We then headed out for a late dinner, hoping to find some good French food for my friends to try. We did, and we all enjoyed it.
The next day we headed to Musee D'Orsay in the morning and then met up with my London friends at the Eiffel Tower. I had wanted to go up for my first time, but the line was huge, so we settled on a nice picnic and lounging under the tower. Seriously, the sight of it never gets old. They all headed out to visit Versailles, but since I've been, I met up with my uncle for some delicious crepes at a place I've been to in Montparnasse. That night, my uncle took Megan, Antoinette and I (studying in Strasbourg with me) to a great French restaurant, called Polidor, that is reasonable and delicious. A full 3 course meal, with an apperatif and wine of course. My friends loved it! We then went to a cafe, where they drank coffee, tea and hot chocolate, and me nothing. I was too full/never understood the concept of drinking coffee after at 11pm. Oh well, I guess I can never be truly French. So nice, I headed back to the 'Bourg early the next morning. J'aime Paris beaucoup. I will be back!
Friday, I met up with my friends from Syracuse who are studying abroad in London for the semester. Ah, it was exciting! Megan, Kaitlin and others and I took a 4 hour walking tour for free! It was great, and it covered so many great attractions of Paris. We saw Notre Dame, Pont Neuf, Saint-Michel, the Latin Quarter, Academie Francaise and more. At night, we headed to the Louvre after 6PM, when it's free. I've been to Paris twice before, but had never been inside it. We stopped at the Mona Lisa (slightly anticlimactic), saw the inverted pyramid and explored some more. We then headed out for a late dinner, hoping to find some good French food for my friends to try. We did, and we all enjoyed it.
The next day we headed to Musee D'Orsay in the morning and then met up with my London friends at the Eiffel Tower. I had wanted to go up for my first time, but the line was huge, so we settled on a nice picnic and lounging under the tower. Seriously, the sight of it never gets old. They all headed out to visit Versailles, but since I've been, I met up with my uncle for some delicious crepes at a place I've been to in Montparnasse. That night, my uncle took Megan, Antoinette and I (studying in Strasbourg with me) to a great French restaurant, called Polidor, that is reasonable and delicious. A full 3 course meal, with an apperatif and wine of course. My friends loved it! We then went to a cafe, where they drank coffee, tea and hot chocolate, and me nothing. I was too full/never understood the concept of drinking coffee after at 11pm. Oh well, I guess I can never be truly French. So nice, I headed back to the 'Bourg early the next morning. J'aime Paris beaucoup. I will be back!
September 19th: Day Trip to Alsace Countryside
The whole Strasbourg trip had a trip to the Alsace Countryside. We left at 8am this morning and when I woke up, we were on top of a mountain and I was looking out over a cliff. The first stop was a castle from the Middle Ages situated on top of a cliff. We took a tour of the castle and kept walking up and up. It was awesome. We could see amazing views over the Alsace countryside, of all the vineyards. We then left to another small town to explore. It seriously looked like it was out of a fairytale. The houses were little, colorful, with small shutters.
We then stopped for lunch, where we could either have chicken or boar. Oh boy. I chose the chicken (obviously). But apparently boar is a speciality. Oh France...
While driving, we just kept passing vineyard after vineyard, that went up the sides of the mountains. Alsace is one of the regions of France known for great wine. That was where we headed to next, our "degustation." Or wine tasting. We went to this little wine cellar with a couple who lead us in French through my first wine tasting. We had little glasses and tasted 5 wines. I liked some of them more than others and decided to buy a bottle for my host family as a nice gift.
The countryside was awesomee.
We then stopped for lunch, where we could either have chicken or boar. Oh boy. I chose the chicken (obviously). But apparently boar is a speciality. Oh France...
While driving, we just kept passing vineyard after vineyard, that went up the sides of the mountains. Alsace is one of the regions of France known for great wine. That was where we headed to next, our "degustation." Or wine tasting. We went to this little wine cellar with a couple who lead us in French through my first wine tasting. We had little glasses and tasted 5 wines. I liked some of them more than others and decided to buy a bottle for my host family as a nice gift.
The countryside was awesomee.
September 10-13th: Trip to Nice
Bonjour Nice!
We took a night trip down to Nice (in the South of France). I've always wanted to go to the French Riviera, so it was definitely worth the 12 hour train ride down. Nice was beautiful, situated right on the Mediterranean, which I had never seen before. We arrived at our hostel, the sketchiest thing I have ever seen. I room with 16 beds and two 45 year old men. Gross. It did not smell too good either.
We made it our mission to spend as little time as possible in that hostel. We toured the city, made a trip to the beach on Friday, unfortunately it was rainy. That night, we went out to eat and then explored Nice nightlife. A bar that was truly international, I think I could have heard any language BUT French. Then we headed to the club that opens from 2am-5, seriously 3 feet across from our hostel. Filled with creepers, but music, of course, is all I really need, so of course, we danced the night away.
Woke up earlyish, for a swim in the ocean! It was great, until I was pushed down by the waves, and my bathing suit pretty much fell off. The beaches were rocky, so that was a little painful. It was so much fun though.
We decided to spend the afternoon with an afternoon trip to Monte Carlo located in Monaco. After a 1 euro bus ride for a half hour, winding on sides of cliffs along the Mediterranean, I was amazed, oh and pretty nauseus. I think they were some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. We arrived in this Mediterranean paradise, where buildings are old and beautiful surrounded by casinos and the only cars are BMWs and Ferraris. It was a ritzy, expensive city, but just so gorgeous, really. We enjoyed a 12 euro sundae (split between the 5 of us, thank goodness), at the famous Cafe de Paris. We explored the area, walking all over, and taking in the sites. It was awesome. Topped off the evening with some cheap sandwiches back in Nice and out around town. Slept for an hour and returned to the 'Bourg in the morning.
We took a night trip down to Nice (in the South of France). I've always wanted to go to the French Riviera, so it was definitely worth the 12 hour train ride down. Nice was beautiful, situated right on the Mediterranean, which I had never seen before. We arrived at our hostel, the sketchiest thing I have ever seen. I room with 16 beds and two 45 year old men. Gross. It did not smell too good either.
We made it our mission to spend as little time as possible in that hostel. We toured the city, made a trip to the beach on Friday, unfortunately it was rainy. That night, we went out to eat and then explored Nice nightlife. A bar that was truly international, I think I could have heard any language BUT French. Then we headed to the club that opens from 2am-5, seriously 3 feet across from our hostel. Filled with creepers, but music, of course, is all I really need, so of course, we danced the night away.
Woke up earlyish, for a swim in the ocean! It was great, until I was pushed down by the waves, and my bathing suit pretty much fell off. The beaches were rocky, so that was a little painful. It was so much fun though.
We decided to spend the afternoon with an afternoon trip to Monte Carlo located in Monaco. After a 1 euro bus ride for a half hour, winding on sides of cliffs along the Mediterranean, I was amazed, oh and pretty nauseus. I think they were some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. We arrived in this Mediterranean paradise, where buildings are old and beautiful surrounded by casinos and the only cars are BMWs and Ferraris. It was a ritzy, expensive city, but just so gorgeous, really. We enjoyed a 12 euro sundae (split between the 5 of us, thank goodness), at the famous Cafe de Paris. We explored the area, walking all over, and taking in the sites. It was awesome. Topped off the evening with some cheap sandwiches back in Nice and out around town. Slept for an hour and returned to the 'Bourg in the morning.
September 6th: Dimanche en famille
On the first Sunday with our host families, they are supposed to spend the day with us, choosing something to do. Whether it's showing us around somewhere or traveling nearby or a meal together. My host mom, or Madame as I call her, took me, John along with two of her friends and their host kids in my program on a tour of Strasbourg. From her apartment she lives about a 6 minute walk from the centre ville (downtown) of Strasbourg. We walked along the river, which runs through the city, to La Petite France, the oldest section of the city. It dates from the 14th century. Everything is in typical Alsacian architecture. Alsace is the region of France I am living in, which is actually different from French culture because it was a region passed off between Germany and France and even has its own language. It was a beautiful day and they pointed out parts of the city in French, ahh love it, and then stopped at the best ice cream place in Strasbourg, they said. Mmmm it was good. We then headed back to the famous Strasbourg Cathedral. It really is amazing.
September 4th: Day 11-- On to Strasbourg!
After our quiz, we boarded the bus again for last stop...Strasbourg! I couldn't believe we were actually going to get there and settle down in a city. Everyone was freaking out about their host family. I wasn't even nervous at first, but after everyone talked about it, I totally was. We knew nothing about them. On the bus we started our academic orientation. When we arrived in Strasbourg, we pulled up to our Syracuse center: Strasbourg edition! A cute house, settled in a nice residential neighborhood. We were given a tour of the four story house, which held 3 classrooms. Then after a bit, we were finally given a sheet with information about our family! My family: A woman: Marie-Jose Marco-Rigaud. Divorced. Journalist. 6 children. 3 living at home. 2 twin girls my age. 1 guy-22 years old. WiFi (yes!). Pets: rabbit? (I still don't know what that means).
The families came in one by one and our names were called and then we shipped off! A cute little woman shorter than me, probably mid 60s was my host mother! She came up close, and of course I didn't realize she was going to do the French thing and kiss my cheeks. So I awkwardly didn't know what to do, of course, but then I figured it out. We carpooled home with my friend Sam's family and arrived at her apartment building. It was a pretty street with a old, nice building. The apartment was on the first floor (which means 2nd in Europe), the only one on the floor. My room was right off the entrance to the apartment, and my first impression was pink! Pink curtains, blanket, chair, desk cover and light lantern! And big! I did not expect such a large room and doors as windows! I was pretty excited about this. They opened up to a little bit you can step out on. I unpacked, and she showed me the apartment a bit but not the whole thing. I also met the other American student living there, John, from another program.
We ate dinner together, with one of her daughters, in her lovely dining room. Wine on the table, bread and some ham dish with cheese in it. (Well get back to the ham later). We all talked in French at the table. It was a bit awkward, but that's normal, but the conversation went really well. That was good, since I know my French was a bit rusty. Yay first night!
The families came in one by one and our names were called and then we shipped off! A cute little woman shorter than me, probably mid 60s was my host mother! She came up close, and of course I didn't realize she was going to do the French thing and kiss my cheeks. So I awkwardly didn't know what to do, of course, but then I figured it out. We carpooled home with my friend Sam's family and arrived at her apartment building. It was a pretty street with a old, nice building. The apartment was on the first floor (which means 2nd in Europe), the only one on the floor. My room was right off the entrance to the apartment, and my first impression was pink! Pink curtains, blanket, chair, desk cover and light lantern! And big! I did not expect such a large room and doors as windows! I was pretty excited about this. They opened up to a little bit you can step out on. I unpacked, and she showed me the apartment a bit but not the whole thing. I also met the other American student living there, John, from another program.
We ate dinner together, with one of her daughters, in her lovely dining room. Wine on the table, bread and some ham dish with cheese in it. (Well get back to the ham later). We all talked in French at the table. It was a bit awkward, but that's normal, but the conversation went really well. That was good, since I know my French was a bit rusty. Yay first night!
September 3rd: Day 10 of Seminar
We left Prague today to head to our last stop, Nuremberg, for one night. First we visited the Nuremberg Documentation Center, which is a museum built in the former Nazi Party arena. The museum documents everything that went on in Nuremberg and why the city was chosen for this. It was really interesting and contained so much information about how large these rallies were and what went on. Then we walked up to the stands and I stood right where Hitler stood leading the rallies. Weird. We had our last wrap up lecture- "Looking Forward: Prospects for Central Europe."
We headed for dinner around the hotel and didn't really explore the city too much. We were all so exhausted from the 11 days. Instead, we studied for our second and last quiz to be held the next morning before we departed to Strasbourg.
What an amazing 11 days those were. I would seriously say they were some of the best 11 days I have experienced. Seeing so much in 4 different cities was amazing. We were definitely all worn out, having getting maybe 3 to 6 hours of sleep each night. Rough. But totally worth it.
We headed for dinner around the hotel and didn't really explore the city too much. We were all so exhausted from the 11 days. Instead, we studied for our second and last quiz to be held the next morning before we departed to Strasbourg.
What an amazing 11 days those were. I would seriously say they were some of the best 11 days I have experienced. Seeing so much in 4 different cities was amazing. We were definitely all worn out, having getting maybe 3 to 6 hours of sleep each night. Rough. But totally worth it.
September 2nd: Day 9 of Seminar
So after finally speaking to my parents many times the night before, and accumalating a rather large phone bill I assume, the deal was my last tetanus shot was 8 1/2 years ago. You're supposed to get them every 10 years, but if u get cut after 5 years, you should get another. GREAT. So the plan was after the normal walking tour this morning, Professor Bach and I would go find a place with a tetanus shot for me.
This walking tour was great. We started at the huge Prague castle that you can sits high above the city. It was beautiful with fantastic views over the city. We walked down through the old city crossing small little streets with cute stores and houses. We stopped at this little restaurant for some drinks and continued on across a walking bridge with huge old arches and statues covering it. Making our way to the main square with a huge astrological clock.
Then the adventure began while everyone else had a free afternoon, my professor Bach and I went to a place my dad had found had tetanus shots. We arrived there. No tetanus shots. FAIL. They told us of another place. So we took out the maps and headed across Prague to another place, which was even sketchier. It was in a teeny building that we walked up to the 5th floor. No one spoke English. We finally managed to get out that they didn't offer tetanus shots either. FAIL. They told us of another place, so we set out for that. Getting to see more of Prague, I guess. This place was even sketchier. White walls, old women in green hospital robes, ancient looking medical equipment. No one spoke English when we asked around. Finally this woman who spoke about 9 words of English pretty much said, no, no you shouldn't be here. I think that was the cue for do not get a shot here. FAIL. We managed to understand we should head to the university hospital. We left that mad sketch place and I'll quote my professor, "That place looked like it was out of the Communist era." He was right. We picked up water, a small sandwich and headed farther into Prague, taking the tram this time. We made it. It looked normal and we found a doctor who spoke some English. Three hours later. Shot taken. 800 crowns aka 43 dollars. PERFECT! A nice large bandage on my foot.
That evening we had our group dinner at Cafe Louvre. It was delicious! Then to a night of some club hopping, which weren't as good as we thought they'd be, but still a lot of fun. I somehow had the idea of wearing heels with my bandaged foot so by 2ish I went back with some people since it hurt.
I LOVE PRAHA!
This walking tour was great. We started at the huge Prague castle that you can sits high above the city. It was beautiful with fantastic views over the city. We walked down through the old city crossing small little streets with cute stores and houses. We stopped at this little restaurant for some drinks and continued on across a walking bridge with huge old arches and statues covering it. Making our way to the main square with a huge astrological clock.
Then the adventure began while everyone else had a free afternoon, my professor Bach and I went to a place my dad had found had tetanus shots. We arrived there. No tetanus shots. FAIL. They told us of another place. So we took out the maps and headed across Prague to another place, which was even sketchier. It was in a teeny building that we walked up to the 5th floor. No one spoke English. We finally managed to get out that they didn't offer tetanus shots either. FAIL. They told us of another place, so we set out for that. Getting to see more of Prague, I guess. This place was even sketchier. White walls, old women in green hospital robes, ancient looking medical equipment. No one spoke English when we asked around. Finally this woman who spoke about 9 words of English pretty much said, no, no you shouldn't be here. I think that was the cue for do not get a shot here. FAIL. We managed to understand we should head to the university hospital. We left that mad sketch place and I'll quote my professor, "That place looked like it was out of the Communist era." He was right. We picked up water, a small sandwich and headed farther into Prague, taking the tram this time. We made it. It looked normal and we found a doctor who spoke some English. Three hours later. Shot taken. 800 crowns aka 43 dollars. PERFECT! A nice large bandage on my foot.
That evening we had our group dinner at Cafe Louvre. It was delicious! Then to a night of some club hopping, which weren't as good as we thought they'd be, but still a lot of fun. I somehow had the idea of wearing heels with my bandaged foot so by 2ish I went back with some people since it hurt.
I LOVE PRAHA!
September 1st: Day 8 of Seminar
After that interesting ending to the previous night, we woke up to take part on our "Nontraditional Walking Tour." And I must say, it was very nontraditional. But first off, my foot was hurting a lot. I had cleaned it and covered it in bandaids. woohoo!
My friends and I figured the most important point was did I have a tetanus shot and if so would I still need another? I told Professor Bach, and he said I should contact my parents, to check up on medical records. That would have to wait until later in the day, considering the time difference.
Our tour started off at museum outside of Prague that commemorated a town Hitler completely destroyed. Then we headed to see the hotel that Stalin was supposed to speak at, but he was killed. Lastly, a museum that's opening date is 09/09/09. It was a new technological library with very interesting architecture. We got a "inside early look" I guess you could say. Yup, so I would definitely say that was a nontraditional walking tour for sure.
In the afternoon we had two lectures on current issues in the Czech Republic. One on the Roma Minority and another on Environmental Issues. The first one was pretty interesting and the second one, o boy, the whole room was lost. That night we explored the city a bit. Prague is gorgeous.
My friends and I figured the most important point was did I have a tetanus shot and if so would I still need another? I told Professor Bach, and he said I should contact my parents, to check up on medical records. That would have to wait until later in the day, considering the time difference.
Our tour started off at museum outside of Prague that commemorated a town Hitler completely destroyed. Then we headed to see the hotel that Stalin was supposed to speak at, but he was killed. Lastly, a museum that's opening date is 09/09/09. It was a new technological library with very interesting architecture. We got a "inside early look" I guess you could say. Yup, so I would definitely say that was a nontraditional walking tour for sure.
In the afternoon we had two lectures on current issues in the Czech Republic. One on the Roma Minority and another on Environmental Issues. The first one was pretty interesting and the second one, o boy, the whole room was lost. That night we explored the city a bit. Prague is gorgeous.
August 31st: Day 7 of Seminar
Au revoir Poland!
We headed out from our lovely hotel, did I mention it sat on the water, and we ate breakfast on a little terrace right alongside it..lovely!
So we headed out for our next stop...Prague!! But first, we made a stop at Gross Rosen Concentration Camp in Poland. I was a little anxious, this is was going to be intense. Being one of two Jews in the group of 33 students in the program, visiting a concentration camp, was definitely something eye opening as a Jew and something with a deep connection to my Jewish background.
It was a smaller camp where as labor, the Jews worked in the quarry there. Okay, embarrassing moment (apparently): So I never knew what a quarry was before this trip. Sorry I was never taught that! However, I apparently will never live this down! It is a huge area where one digs for stone.
Anyway, I walked around the whole concentration camp. It had remains of bunks, the baths, some monuments and the gate which the prisoners built. On it, it said in Polish "Labor means Free."
After hearing so much about the Holocaust and how much of my family was killed during, it was interesting to see one, however, very depressing. It kind of made me realize how unfortunate it is that I really don't know too much about my family that came from this part of the world and their experiences there. Sadly, it is because the majority of them were Polish Jews killed in the Holocaust.
Our next stop on the road, was a Baroque Church Drzeszow, Poland. It was very interesting architecture. We also had a group lunch there at the restaurant attached to the church. The soup was really good, and the rest okay. haha. This was followed by our first quiz of the course (oh right, because this traveling around Europe for 11 days is a course). Yup, it was a little rough. We then had out next lecture "Crossing through the Sudetenland" because we were near the Prague/Czech border. We arrived in Prague that night at 7:00pm and went out to explore the city. It got pretty interesting I'd say.
So we all went to dinner, the bill was 2000 crowns. But, that's really cheap, the Prague currency is ridiculous. Then we all went out to the 5 story club. I'd say the epitome of eurotrash. It was awesome. Each floor was a different type of music: techno, 90s, hip hop, etc. So many people from the program was there, it was awesome. On the way home, at around 3:00am, I thought I was being smart, take off my heels and switch to my flip flops I had brought in my bag. After wearing them for a little bit, all of a sudden I step on something and it cuts into my foot. I look down and realize I stepped on some gross nail in the middle of a Praha street and the bottom of my foot is cut open and really bleeding. Lovely. Well done. That HURT!
We headed out from our lovely hotel, did I mention it sat on the water, and we ate breakfast on a little terrace right alongside it..lovely!
So we headed out for our next stop...Prague!! But first, we made a stop at Gross Rosen Concentration Camp in Poland. I was a little anxious, this is was going to be intense. Being one of two Jews in the group of 33 students in the program, visiting a concentration camp, was definitely something eye opening as a Jew and something with a deep connection to my Jewish background.
It was a smaller camp where as labor, the Jews worked in the quarry there. Okay, embarrassing moment (apparently): So I never knew what a quarry was before this trip. Sorry I was never taught that! However, I apparently will never live this down! It is a huge area where one digs for stone.
Anyway, I walked around the whole concentration camp. It had remains of bunks, the baths, some monuments and the gate which the prisoners built. On it, it said in Polish "Labor means Free."
After hearing so much about the Holocaust and how much of my family was killed during, it was interesting to see one, however, very depressing. It kind of made me realize how unfortunate it is that I really don't know too much about my family that came from this part of the world and their experiences there. Sadly, it is because the majority of them were Polish Jews killed in the Holocaust.
Our next stop on the road, was a Baroque Church Drzeszow, Poland. It was very interesting architecture. We also had a group lunch there at the restaurant attached to the church. The soup was really good, and the rest okay. haha. This was followed by our first quiz of the course (oh right, because this traveling around Europe for 11 days is a course). Yup, it was a little rough. We then had out next lecture "Crossing through the Sudetenland" because we were near the Prague/Czech border. We arrived in Prague that night at 7:00pm and went out to explore the city. It got pretty interesting I'd say.
So we all went to dinner, the bill was 2000 crowns. But, that's really cheap, the Prague currency is ridiculous. Then we all went out to the 5 story club. I'd say the epitome of eurotrash. It was awesome. Each floor was a different type of music: techno, 90s, hip hop, etc. So many people from the program was there, it was awesome. On the way home, at around 3:00am, I thought I was being smart, take off my heels and switch to my flip flops I had brought in my bag. After wearing them for a little bit, all of a sudden I step on something and it cuts into my foot. I look down and realize I stepped on some gross nail in the middle of a Praha street and the bottom of my foot is cut open and really bleeding. Lovely. Well done. That HURT!
August 30th: Day 6 of the Seminar
Today in Poland, we were broken into three groups to learn about a specific aspect of Poland. I was assigned to the group: Women in Business in Poland, which focused on women's rights in Poland. It was lead by two women, one being the owner of Centennial Hall, and was extremely interesting. At the end of the session, our job was to perform a skit as a group.
The 11 of us decided to split our skit in 3 small separate skits. My group and I, did our skit about abortion rights in Poland. It was very light and humorous I would say. I was the doctor performing illegal abortions and at the end was caught and arrested.
That night, everyone performed their skits at Wroclaw City Hall. I guess we have connections in high places :) It was pretty amazing, the building was so pretty and I felt so official! The skit went well and this was all followed by our group dinner in Poland. (Every city we went to, we had a group dinner). We walked into this restaurant and they had set up this whole banquet it looked like. It was intense, this huge table covered in elaborately decorated and organized food. Oh Poland...
The 11 of us decided to split our skit in 3 small separate skits. My group and I, did our skit about abortion rights in Poland. It was very light and humorous I would say. I was the doctor performing illegal abortions and at the end was caught and arrested.
That night, everyone performed their skits at Wroclaw City Hall. I guess we have connections in high places :) It was pretty amazing, the building was so pretty and I felt so official! The skit went well and this was all followed by our group dinner in Poland. (Every city we went to, we had a group dinner). We walked into this restaurant and they had set up this whole banquet it looked like. It was intense, this huge table covered in elaborately decorated and organized food. Oh Poland...
Day 4 of our Journey: August 28, 2008
So we left Berlin at 9:15am to start our trek to Poland. I was definitely very excited to visit Poland especially, because of family's background. My grandmother was born there and although I never got to meet her, I thought it would be very interesting to see the country where a large part of my family was from. Even more, the country where such horrible events occurred that affected my family directly.
We made a short stop at the Berlin Soviet Monument on the way out. It was huge, massive, like all the things that the Soviets do I learned. We continued our journey on our light purple bus, complete with butterflies covering the outside, which seemed to become our traveling home. Of course, I fell asleep the majority of the time, since I can seriously sleep ANYwhere. However, the ride was scattered with multiple games of Mafia, which turned out to be so much fun. Not surprisingly, I was HORRIBLE at it because I am probably the worst liar ever and sat there grining the whole time followed by everyone saying "It's Jo!!!!" And I failed to persuade them the other way.
Once we reached the German-Polish border, we stopped for another one of Professor Raczka's lectures called "Shifting Borders, Changing Identities." I probably heard about half of it considering how grogy I was sleeping on a bus on and off for hours. It was exciting though to walk across the bridge connecting Germany and Poland, so exciting. We returned to the bus and finally arrived in Wroclaw, Poland at 7:30PM and checked into our hotel.
As a group we walked to the main square of the city. The city was gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful! Small streets filled with cobblestones and colorful buildings surrounded the main square. We decided to be really Polish, and ate our first meal of pierogies which were soooo good! Too many, but delicious! Our first night in Poland would be one to remember definitely. It was followed by a visit to a bar and then club "Daytona", filled with creepy Polish people, American music and finally a walk home at 4am. Oh man, but it was a fun fun night.
The next morning however, we had to wake up at 8:30, but somehow, my roommate and my alarms did not go off and ended up missing the bus departure to visit our first Wroclaw site at Centennial Hall. We woke up at 10:00, freaking out, quickly deciding to find the location, and take a cab. We made it there after about 45 minutes after the group arrived, and called Professor Bach (the director of the program), once we got there, and thankfully he didn't look TOO angry. Oh boy, what a start to Poland.
So we had missed the Introductory film, and made it for the panel discussion, which I was a little confused about. Oh well. We then went off for lunch downtown on our own, which we weren't too hungry for. It was followed by another lecture "Russian/Polish Relations" in front of the Monument to the Victims of the Katyn Massacre.
We then visited the "Panorama" which was in this huge cylindrical building and held a huge panoramic painting that circled the entire wall. It depicted the battle between the Polish and the Russians. You walked around the painting as the audio described what was happening. It was awesome.
That night, we were totally low key, with an Italian late lunch/early dinner, followed by me passing out at 8PM until the next morning. So necessary.
We made a short stop at the Berlin Soviet Monument on the way out. It was huge, massive, like all the things that the Soviets do I learned. We continued our journey on our light purple bus, complete with butterflies covering the outside, which seemed to become our traveling home. Of course, I fell asleep the majority of the time, since I can seriously sleep ANYwhere. However, the ride was scattered with multiple games of Mafia, which turned out to be so much fun. Not surprisingly, I was HORRIBLE at it because I am probably the worst liar ever and sat there grining the whole time followed by everyone saying "It's Jo!!!!" And I failed to persuade them the other way.
Once we reached the German-Polish border, we stopped for another one of Professor Raczka's lectures called "Shifting Borders, Changing Identities." I probably heard about half of it considering how grogy I was sleeping on a bus on and off for hours. It was exciting though to walk across the bridge connecting Germany and Poland, so exciting. We returned to the bus and finally arrived in Wroclaw, Poland at 7:30PM and checked into our hotel.
As a group we walked to the main square of the city. The city was gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful! Small streets filled with cobblestones and colorful buildings surrounded the main square. We decided to be really Polish, and ate our first meal of pierogies which were soooo good! Too many, but delicious! Our first night in Poland would be one to remember definitely. It was followed by a visit to a bar and then club "Daytona", filled with creepy Polish people, American music and finally a walk home at 4am. Oh man, but it was a fun fun night.
The next morning however, we had to wake up at 8:30, but somehow, my roommate and my alarms did not go off and ended up missing the bus departure to visit our first Wroclaw site at Centennial Hall. We woke up at 10:00, freaking out, quickly deciding to find the location, and take a cab. We made it there after about 45 minutes after the group arrived, and called Professor Bach (the director of the program), once we got there, and thankfully he didn't look TOO angry. Oh boy, what a start to Poland.
So we had missed the Introductory film, and made it for the panel discussion, which I was a little confused about. Oh well. We then went off for lunch downtown on our own, which we weren't too hungry for. It was followed by another lecture "Russian/Polish Relations" in front of the Monument to the Victims of the Katyn Massacre.
We then visited the "Panorama" which was in this huge cylindrical building and held a huge panoramic painting that circled the entire wall. It depicted the battle between the Polish and the Russians. You walked around the painting as the audio described what was happening. It was awesome.
That night, we were totally low key, with an Italian late lunch/early dinner, followed by me passing out at 8PM until the next morning. So necessary.
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